Last weekend was our last chance to do something together as a family in Tropical North Queensland, where we’ve been living for the last year. 

We decided to go for a hike and visit Finch Hatton Gorge, where there’s a stunning waterfall and deep rock pools for swimming. 

We hiked for 20 minutes in the humid North QLD heat to get to the water and when we arrived I had every intention of jumping in to cool off.  I dipped my toe in the crystal clear water… and it was cooooooold.  My immediate reaction was “nope, too cold – I’ll just sit here on the edge and splash my feet.”

And then a thought came to me.  Just that morning I had read a post by Loni Jane, who had climbed a mountain with her family and found herself half way up, unsure that she could go any further.  While sitting on the side of the mountain and letting her family go on to the top without her, she found herself thinking… “Is this really how you’re going to start your 2022?”  The message was clear.  We set ourselves all these hefty goals each new year and we promise ourselves that we’ll follow through with them.  But so often – too often – we hit the first hurdle and fall back into our old brain habits.  We stop if it gets hard.  We talk ourselves out of things rather than into them.